Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Starring: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, and Patrick McGoohan
Grade: C

No matter the sum of its parts, one thing we can’t take away from Ice Station Zebra is that it possesses one of the coolest movie titles of all time.

Summary

A satellite re-enters the atmosphere, part of it breaks off, and it flies directly into the Arctic, near Ice Station Zebra. Russian intelligence officers and American intelligence officers take notice. An agent stationed at Ice Station Zebra approaches the object to observe it while another agent watches him from afar. Stationed in Scotland is American Commander James Ferraday (Hudson). He gets a call at a local bar to meet with Admiral Garvey (Lloyd Nolan), so he promptly excuses himself and heads down the street to another bar and upstairs to the private dining room. There, Garvey awaits and pours up some scotch for them to share as he asks Ferraday what he knows about Ice Station Zebra. Ferraday only knows what has been in the papers like how it’s a British civilian weather station at the North Pole and they’re in some sort of trouble. Garvey confirms this, as they have gotten distress signals from Ice Station Zebra, but the signal has been too weak and garbled to make sense. Regardless, there’s been a fire or explosion of some kind and some have been killed. Others are dying. The area can’t be reached by rescue planes because the “entire polar cap is completely socked in with an ice storm”. It might not clear up for days or weeks. Ferraday is being sent in to save the survivors. However, they are not the reason he’s going. It’s just an excuse. He can’t tell him anything more than that. Ferraday’s passenger does know though, and Garvey gives Ferraday the passenger’s orders that won’t be coming through normal channels. There will be a second passenger on top of that as well. Despite so much being classified, Garvey assures Ferraday as they head out the door that he won’t let him go out there completely in the dark. It’s just that he will have to find out the rest from his passenger.

Sometime later, British agent Mr. Jones (McGoohan) exits a private plane and is driven straight to the nuclear submarine that Ferraday is in charge of.

On Ferraday’s nuclear submarine, a bunch of marines are brought on board, instilling questions from the crew regarding the real reason they are going since this is supposed to be a rescue mission. Jones shows up, and Ferraday knows right away that he’s the passenger. Ferraday shows Jones around the submarine and lets him stay in the cabin of Ferraday’s operations officer Lt. Jonathan Hansen (Ted Hartley). He also gives him something to allow them to check Jones for radiation from time to time. Next, Ferraday brings up how rare it is for Garvey to travel from London to Holy Loch to personally hand him someone’s orders. With this, Ferraday is subtly trying to get Jones to reveal more about his mission, but Jones doesn’t say much more, pointing out that what’s on the paper is what’s going on. Ferraday talks about how the orders basically give Jones full access and aide of any kind, and Jones concurs without saying too much more. The orders are signed by the Chief of Naval Operations too. Ferraday still brings up how it doesn’t say anything about why or what Jones’s part in the mission is. After Jones asks if the door is soundproof, he wonders about the validity of the claim that no whisky is ever served on United States Naval Vessels. Seeing some quid pro quo action, Ferraday implies he can get him a pint of whiskey if he is “seasick”. Despite this, Jones reveals nothing further and tells Ferraday to follow the orders given to him. While in periscope depth later on, Ferraday spots a Russian trawler and Jones is none too surprised, correctly guessing what it is when Ferraday quizzes him. Following this, Ferraday gets another distress call from Ice Station Zebra and relays the message to the crew. It was picked up by a Norwegian freighter and the only discernible message was, “For God’s sake, hurry”. The rest of the message was garbled. This means that there is someone still alive up there. Despite the last position of the transmission, their position drifts with the ice pack. The United States and Soviet Russia are making a combined effort to rescue the survivors, and an ice storm has ruled out an air rescue from either side.

Because of this, they will be going under the ice pack.

He then mentions Jones to the crew and how a good portion of his mission is classified, and he is not to be bothered. Ferraday walks through the submarine and some of the others ask if Jones is a spy. He doesn’t know, but he tells them not to be too buddy-buddy with him. Later, Ferraday talks with the marines and Lt. Russell Walker (Tony Bill) and tries to make them feel comfortable since this is their first time on a submarine. Hansen goes into his cabin for the night and sees Jones in his bunk, so he wakes Jones up to get him to switch. In an instant, Jones throws him down and points a gun at him until Ferraday barges in just in time. Jones apologizes because it was a reflex, but Ferraday wants his gun because of the incident. However, Jones will keep it as he sees it as a security blanket. Seeing the whiskey on Ferraday, he takes the bottle and offers them both a drink, but they turn him down. Changing the subject, Ferraday shows Hansen some coordinates to see if he recognizes them. Since he does, he sends Hansen to Court to lay out a track. Following Hansen’s exit, Ferraday tells Jones they’ve been ordered to a surface rendezvous. He thinks Jones knows something about it, but he doesn’t. As he pours a glass of whiskey, he does admit he felt bad about the situation with Hansen. It’s just that he called him Jones, and it has a bad connotation in his head because he once killed a man named Jones. Thus, Jones reveals that “Jones” is just a code name. He knows Ferraday already doesn’t trust Jones at all, so Jones gives him advice to not get into the mission any more than he must. He does promise that Ferraday will learn more if the need arises. Next, the ship goes to the surface as a helicopter drops in the other passenger, Boris Vaslov (Borgnine). Because they know each other, the friendly Boris greets Jones right away, calling him “David”. Boris is a Russian defector and spy and is considered to be the best ops man in captivity. He helped them set up Ice Station Zebra and can find the place on foot from 100 miles away according to Jones.

Ferraday reads Vaslov’s credentials, sees he’s a Chief of Naval Operations, and deduces that him and Jones must have the same friends. Vaslov adds how they have the same enemies too, so Ferraday welcomes him aboard and Jones takes him to get some coffee. Captain Anders (Brown) is brought with him and introduces himself to Ferraday while giving him his papers. As Ferraday notes how imperative it was for someone else for Anders to be on board, he has Patterson show Anders to his quarters. When Anders gets by the door of Ferraday’s quarters, he sees Walker and the two share eye contact. Walker is visibly uncomfortable. Jones walks Vaslov to Hansen’s cabin, closes the door, and immediately asks who Anders is. Vaslov thought Jones knew him. Vaslov assures him that Anders was checked by the officials at the air base and he’s a captain in the Marines, but Jones doesn’t trust him. Vaslov correctly presumes that Jones thinks Anders was sent to spy on the two. However, neither is sure what side sent Anders. Pivoting, Vaslov asks if there has been any word from Halliwell or Gordon, but there hasn’t been. Then, he questions how much Ferraday knows, but Jones assures him it’s enough to get them where they want to go. He adds that Vaslov needs to continue being his fun-loving self and to tell Ferraday nothing more. Ferraday enters his quarters to speak with the ultra-serious Anders and starts to get a good handle on the stern and strict person he is, especially after offering him a seat and him preferring to stand. Ferraday reads his orders, and it is said that Anders is to take command as soon as possible. Anders adds that the men on board are highly trained in arctic maneuvers but are untested in actual combat, so even after Ferraday sailed out, the search went on to find a properly qualified officer. As Ferraday calls Walker in to the room, Anders sits down across from Ferraday.

Ferraday lets Walker know that Anders will be taking some of the load off his shoulders, so Walker goes to shake Anders’s hand to welcome him. Anders does not accept and gets serious, telling him to notify the other men that there will be a showdown inspection soon, “And Lieutenant, it will be a bitch”.

Anders talks about his serious tactics to Ferraday after Walker leaves. He knows Walker is popular with his men, but Anders measures “an officer’s weakness by every man that likes him personally”. Ferraday seems indifferent and sends Anders to bunk with Vaslov once he turns down bunking with Walker. Later, Vaslov wanders the ship to look at things, so someone calls it in to Ferraday. Soon after, Ferraday shows up and questions Vaslov. He says he’s fascinated by everything, and he likes to walk to prevent his claustrophobia, but it looks suspicious and Ferraday isn’t too sure about him. He doesn’t get too aggressive with Vaslov, but he tells him to have someone accompany him the next time he wants to wander. Vaslov agrees and apologizes. Ferraday still invites him to ask any question he likes, so he wants to know where the nuclear power source is. With this, Ferraday takes him to see it. Vaslov is entranced by it, though he relates the confinement of the energy to his living situation with Anders. He admits that Anders isn’t every nice to him. Elsewhere, Jones makes conversation with Anders and Walker and points out their inexperience going into ice climates. Anders tries to play it tough by saying a bullet goes just as fast either way, but the smug Jones corrects him on this by telling him that a bullet from an M-16 “will decelerate as much as 40 feet per second faster in these climatic conditions” because of the denser air. They missed an opportunity here for Walker to start laughing at Anders once he got outsmarted to further distance their working relationship, but this film is almost completely devoid of humor, so there was no chance of that happening. Anyway, Ferraday takes the sub under the ice. At the same time, Anders tests how fast the marines can dissemble their guns and is unimpressed. Next, he wants them to do it with their eyes closed in case they are in a situation where it’s dark out. Walker is embarrassed, and Vaslov watches from behind Anders. Later, Hansen wakes up Jones. They are officially under the ice, and under Ice Station Zebra, in the last known location of the distress signal.

They plan to break through the ice, and it takes a lot of maneuvering and math to figure out how to pull it off. It doesn’t work at first and they hit the ice and go back down. Thankfully, there is no damage other than a washing machine getting thrown off. They try again but still aren’t able to break through. They deduce the ice is too thick in this spot, so Ferraday will attempt to torpedo through it and explode it 1,000 yards away from the ship. It hasn’t been done before, he’s not sure if it will work, and he’s not even positive they will survive the shock. They should, but he’s not 100%, as he explains what’s going on to Jones. Hansen walks through the area where the marines are at, and Vaslov asks if they are there. Once Hansen explains the new plan, Vaslov goes with to see how the process of the torpedo is handled, and Hansen welcomes him. Jones joins them. The two sailors in charge of checking the tube talk and work, and the one named George (Murray Rose) notices a leak and opens it. Naturally, water starts spewing in rapidly and everyone starts panicking as the place starts to fill up. Immediately, Anders locks the door where him and the marines are. The torpedo room sends word back to Ferraday and everyone springs into action. They all start locking each door in the submarine and isolate a lot of rooms. The ship is diving fast though. Anders, Jones, and Vaslov help rescue a few guys as the ship continues to decline. Somehow, they are able to get the tube closed during this and they stop the water. The guys in the sectioned off part of the ship almost die, but they are able to level out due to Ferraday’s direction. Ferraday storms back to the torpedo room as everyone collects themselves. Jones wonders if it could have been an accident, but Ferraday knows for a fact that one thing cannot happen and that is both ends of a torpedo tube opening to the sea at the same time. Jones is frustrated and points out a lot of specific details they may have messed up on for it to happen.

He angrily leaves, grabs a pint of whiskey, and goes to a private room.

Ferraday brings Vaslov with him and follows Jones, calling him out for suddenly knowing a lot about submarines. Jones admits he knows how to wreck them. He also knows how to “lie, steal, kidnap, counterfeit, suborn, and kill”, and it’s a job he does with pride. When Ferraday asks Vaslov if this is his job too, he concurs. He wants to know Vaslov’s theory, so Vaslov suggests someone on the ship has committed sabotage and was willing to die for his cause. Hearing his words, Ferraday starts to question Vaslov on his beliefs a bit more. Jones vouches for him by adding that Vaslov’s convictions have been confirmed by British Intelligence, the CIA, and himself ever since he got Vaslov through the Berlin Wall in 1961. Even so, someone on this ship doesn’t want them to get to Ice Station Zebra. Now, they have to worry about who is the perpetrator and who isn’t who they say they are. Along with this, they still have to get there to solve whatever is going in.

My Thoughts:

With its selling point being that of a grandiose action film from the mind of celebrated author Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, etc.), the red carpet was rolled out for Ice Station Zebra. With a crop of big names to lead the picture, an interesting bit of espionage to drive the plot, a cool location, and some gorgeously shot scenes, director John Sturges had quite the project on his hands. All the elements were there to make a blockbuster, and MGM bet the house on it as they famously pulled 2001: A Space Odyssey from Cinerama venues to give the film more theaters. Unfortunately, the gamble did not pay off like they’d hope. It stretches far beyond the attention span on the viewer, it’s not as wordy as Where Eagles Dare but it’s close enough to piss you off, the action is nowhere near MacLean’s other works despite how cool the name and poster looks, the additional details of the mystery become so muddy that it almost dares you to stop caring until someone gets shot, and the third act is not the satisfying payoff that the long buildup seemed to be promising.

Still, it was not the fault of the director. John Sturges adds as much as he can to magnify the intensity and general interest of different conversations being had, the random spurts of action like the shock factor of the sequence in which the submarine almost floods or the closing-in of the rocks when they save someone from falling through the cracks of the ice, and the rising tension of the standoff with the Soviets in the climax while Vaslov tries to discreetly get the film out of the canister. Going along with this, Ice Station Zebra was magnificently shot to at least vindicate itself on its “spectacle” label. I can only imagine how enthralling it was to see this on the big screen at the time of its release. There are some incredible scenes of the submarine diving into the ocean that look like it was filmed today. Second unit cameraman John M. Stephens found a way to develop an underwater camera system to aid the shot, and it’s like the audience is hanging onto the outside of the submarine in real time. It’s wildly innovative. At the same time, the underwater scenes of the submarine traveling, especially when they go under the ice pack, are beautiful. A prominent model is used in these scenes, and for 1968, it’s impressively done, along with the shots of the stunning clear blue water around it. Despite so many dull and unnecessarily dragged-out scenes, surprisingly none of them are when the submarine travels through the icy blue open water or moments like when they go to the surface to get Vaslov. The Arctic landscape when the men travel on foot is also well done and enticing to the naked eye. When the paratroopers are coming down, the suspense is felt in the heat of the moment and the way the landscape is filmed really helped the overall production. Plus, I’m a sucker for a firefight in the Arctic. It just looks so cool, which might be a partial reason as to why I’m having trouble grading the movie any lower. Well, there’s that and Rock Hudson’s badass blue winter coat and Patrick McGoohan’s rocking the fur.

The additional use of Dutch angles within the submarine itself to showcase the elevation and angles at which a submarine travels was also a nice, understated touch. For the most part, the acting wasn’t the problem with the film either. Rock Hudson was a great choice to lead as the polite but imposing American commander looking for answers and refusing the bullshit being hurled his way, without having to be in everyone’s face about it like how Jim Brown’s Anders is. However, Commander Ferraday would have benefitted with having some kind of vulnerability or character flaw. He’s just a little too perfect. No one is arguing that he too has to have a confusing motive like the others, but he should at least trick the audience into thinking he’s not as awesome or intelligent as he’s portrayed to be because he doesn’t seem to slip up or look weak at all. He can still be the strait-laced hero of the story, but is it possible for him to be fooled, punched, shot, or outsmarted in some regard? Granted, the reveal of the traitor does technically fall on him, but it’s not treated that way and he’s not looked at like the captain who failed to see it beforehand, despite it resulting in some people dying and whatnot. It’s just passed off as collateral because the ultimate problem was solved. A moment of reflection or him getting worried privately would have been nice to add a little depth to his character, as he was the biggest example of someone needing it. The rough-around-the-edges Anders character was a great addition to the story though because of how stark of a contrast he was from the other three principal characters in the movie. All of his dialogue tells you exactly the type of person he is, and I enjoyed how uneasy the main characters are around him. That’s the type of presence Jim Brown has. Even though Anders is an American and clearly follows his orders to a “T”, I like how there is enough suspicion regarding his personality that does make you question his true motive for being there. It’s just enough to throw you off a little.

With foreign characters like Jones and Vaslov, during the Cold War no less, Ferraday and the viewer are naturally skeptical about them, so the presence of the tough-minded Anders is strong enough to make you question the possibility of someone else being the saboteur. People have complained about the main characters being too thin, but I don’t share the same sentiment. For a military film that mostly takes place in a few confined places, the interactions they have with each other and the little detail they can go in because of the secrecy of the mission does align realistically with the situation. If anything, if this were a real-life situation, even less would be said, especially with Ferraday as he kind of oversteps his boundaries of his questioning when he’s well aware of his orders. When you consider this, the events that take place and the dialogue do seem fairly accurate. The same could be said about the fact that there are no women in the cast. It’s a little strange for a movie in general, but this is a military film that takes place mostly in a submarine. That leaves very little room for a female character outside of the introductory scene when Ferraday was at a bar. With that being said, this explanation can’t excuse the film entirely from criticism because from the perspective of the viewer, the mystery just isn’t as engrossing as you’d like it to be considering the heavy buildup. Also, considering they’re at the height of the Cold War, the realism is shot out the door in the anticlimactic ending. It’s cool to see Ferraday standing his ground to a number of Soviets who clearly outnumber them, but you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think this would turn into a bloody shootout that would result in either death for the heroes or a serious retreat. An ending like what happened in Where Eagles Dare would fit the plot much better and would’ve been the best payoff to all the buildup they packed in. Celebrating “international cooperation” felt like a slap in the face.

Ernest Borgnine’s jovial demeanor and somewhat passable Russian accent are good enough for the audience to let him in as an asset but also be concerned of his true nature with his interactions behind closed doors with Jones, though the performance does border on caricature. Even so, he brought a decent amount of energy to the story that was very much needed. Regardless of the three heavy hitters of the cast, Patrick McGoohan outshines them all in the role of the mysterious David Jones. The only reason the audience is remotely interested in the mystery going on is because of McGoohan’s magnetism and willingness to showcase some troubling emotions to entice the viewer and the characters. Everyone else seems wooden in comparison and come off as if they are acting in a 50s movie when the charismatic McGoohan enters with a modern, three-dimensional performance that outclasses them. For instance, Rock Hudson would come off looking good alongside virtually anyone else, but when he interacts with the charming McGoohan, his performance starts to look a bit stilted. One great example is the scene after the flooding incident. After Jones privately accuses Anders of being the traitor to Ferraday, he then flips out on Ferraday for his questioning, slamming his hand on the table in frustration as he drinks his whiskey (“The primary objective is to get me to Ice Station Zebra”; “Put another torpedo up the spout, blow a hole in the ice, and GET ME THERE!”). It sets McGoohan apart from everyone else and hooks your attention with his stressful delivery and fury in the moment. It gives a lot of insight into Jones’s part of the mission, without giving anything away outright. However, Ferraday’s response to the outburst is flat-out weak. He only responds in a slightly-above-stern manner and slams his hand on the table in a comically less effective way. He had almost zero intensity when responding to Jones in such a crucial dramatic scene. I wouldn’t say Hudson looked disinterested, but he was notably disappointing in leading this cast.

In his defense, part of it was because he wasn’t given much to do, as the character had his aforementioned lack of vulnerability or personality outside of being a good leader who is weary of the characters on board his ship. Then again, Hudson barely changed his facial expression throughout the entirety of the movie, so he is part of the blame as well. He does look like a commander though. I’ll give him that. Regardless, McGoohan had a fruitful enough supporting performance that it makes you want to seek out more of his work. His acting as Jones had no holes, which is saying something for a dated action film. Plus, he just looks like he’s trying harder than the others to make the story more engaging. He would have succeeded had the action and disappointing screenplay not failed his efforts. The only knock on him in Ice Station Zebra is that he’s saddled with delivering the overly long monologues about the mission that get supremely complicated late in the second act, mostly because it seems like the other actors would fail to deliver such pivotal lines in such an impactful way. For example, when Ferraday reveals enough about the mission to make Jones let him in on the specifics, he goes on a five-minute speech of rapid-fire details where there is no conceivable way to remember every critical detail without pausing to process the information. Some of it doesn’t even seem that important. We get that the film they need came out of a camera mounted in a Russian satellite, and how the camera was British, but does he really need to add that it can’t be duplicated “for another two years because of certain British processes in grinding lenses”? An example given of how it can photograph a pack of cigarettes from 300 miles up in space on a “tiny negative capable of infinite enlargement”, but a more concise way to explain this in the moment is fundamental for the viewer to not get lost.

Following this, Jones really gets into the thick of it by talking about how the Americans “came up with the new film emulsion”, which was 100 times more sensitive that what it was before, and how they put the British’s film in their camera and the Americans lost it after it was hijacked in broad daylight, dismantled, and smuggled into Havana. Then, the Russians took their camera as he hilariously adds, “…made by our German scientists, and your film made by your German scientists into their satellite made by their German scientists”. As good of a line as this was, you practically lose your breath when he piles on about how it went into the air around the U.S. seven times a day photographing missile bases, and they have photos of Russian installations too, and how they will have pictures of all the missile bases in North America in 48 hours until they find the film in Zebra. All of this information is too congested without a chance to comprehend it all at the pace in which he says it, eerily similar to Richard Burton’s character in Where Eagles Dare when he explains what the hell is actually going on. It bogs down the intensity of the moment because the previous hour and a half wasn’t nearly as convoluted, so the audience is unprepared for such a massive information dump. I’ve said it in previous reviews, but these moments are much more fitting for a book. It’s not very cinematic however and needs to be tightened up or presented in a more appealing way. The British’s man Halliwell getting to the film first and Vaslov’s man Goodwin shooting Halliwell and potentially burning the evidence and how he brought his own homer because the frequency change is VITAL information, but at that point, you just stop giving a fuck because you don’t understand half of what they’re talking about. An action movie shouldn’t lose the audience this badly, but if the information dump is botched and too wordy when there is no scene previously to get the viewer prepared for it, you run into a situation where the audience stops caring, which was 100% the case here.

Considering how good some scenes were when the distrust between the vastly different four characters are highlighted (like when Jones one-ups Anders about the bullet fact), one thing that was missing was one full-blown argument between all four at some point. The most entertaining moments were the subtle jabs they all take at each other in separate scenes and interactions, but there was a real missed opportunity in not putting all four in the same room behind closed doors, with everyone throwing wild accusations at the other until someone comes in to break it up before they come to blows. For a suspense thriller with so many dead spots, this could have been a movie-saving scene to up the intensity just when things were getting dry, They needed a buffer to whet everyone’s appetite before they get to Ice Station Zebra to start revealing more because the eventfulness (or lack thereof) pre-ice barrier drags. That’s the biggest problem with the film. There is so much submarine mumbo jumbo that means absolutely nothing to us like talking about how deep they’re going, and the math involved, and it goes on far too long for us to care. By the time Vaslov wakes up Kilyar with the whiskey after the medical team moves in, you’d think I’d be sitting up in my seat, but it was really just enough to keep me from zoning out completely. On top of that, there just isn’t enough action to support its running time or keep the audience engaged with what is going on. Had they tightened this up to an eventful two hours and brought the others on board earlier, the overall production would have benefitted MASSIVELY from it.

There are still a lot of positives about Ice Station Zebra, but the negatives outweigh them. No matter how detail orientated Alistair MacLean’s writing is, the same issue arises with a lot of his works in that it just wasn’t good enough to justify the length. Usually, he saves it with a crazy amount of action, but the film underdelivers on that too. The action is handled well once the true culprit is revealed and it happens at the same time as the Soviets flying in, as Ferraday having to figure out a way to manage both without incident is a thrilling one. The situation is only heightened when we see the many paratroopers parachuting down, as they work to get the capsule vessel out from under the ice, along with the standoff between Ferraday and Col. Ostrovsky. At this point, the viewer is finally on the edge of their seat at this “Wild West” shootout that is about to happen in what we are expecting to be a thunderous finale to make everything worth it. Unfortunately, the letdown that it is leaves a sour taste in our mouths once the credits roll. It’s not terrible, but it’s not what we’re expecting after so much information is accrued and the concrete groundwork is laid down that practically ensures all-out chaos. Ice Station Zebra has a lot of rousing moments and hype surrounding the good of the film. Nevertheless, it drags enough in totality that the biggest takeaway you’ll have is that one viewing was enough.

Fun Fact: The original cast was going to be Gregory Peck in Rock Hudson’s role, David Niven in Patrick McGoohan’s role, Edmond O’Brien, and George Segal, but scheduling conflicts changed the entire cast.